Drew Downs
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When the Spirit Comes
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8 min read
Seeing, Hearing, Feeling and Testifying in Truth Pentecost | John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-15 When the advocate comes After Jesus comes back from the dead and appears to Mary, appears to his disciples, then appears to them again, now with Thomas in their midst, he says to them that iconic phrase: “Blessed are those who…
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For Pentecost, wear more than red
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5 min read
In many of the Episcopal Churches of which I’ve been a part, there is a regular tradition of wearing red on Pentecost. Red, of course is the liturgical color of the day, but it also matches the fire images that accompany the day. Opportunities to red the place up and evoke the tongues of fire…
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How To Get the Most Out Of Church
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7 min read
Of course I love church. That goes without saying. But I don’t always love the church. I don’t always love the way we do church or the way we incarnate the church. It sometimes gets to me and drains me. Some of that is me. But a lot of it is the way we approach church as church members…
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What If the Church Believed in Eternal Life?
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4 min read
When Jesus speaks of eternal life, he isn’t talking about forever. Many of us learn this in seminary or when we read books about scripture. That this phrase Jesus uses*, “eternal life” doesn’t mean what we think it means. Or to be more precise, doesn’t communicate only the narrow understanding we take it for. The…
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Leadership From the Side
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2 min read
At particular junctures in our common life, members of the Episcopal Church have come together to call upon its people and leadership to read the signs of the times, to discern the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and to act with boldness to proclaim the gospel in new contexts and situations. One concrete method that…
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Do
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8 min read
Jesus’s departing prayer incites a different kind of revolution Easter 7B | John 17:6-19 A Strange Prayer I might get into trouble for saying this, but please don’t pray like Jesus. If you take John 17 as your example and try to learn to pray like this, then, I don’t know if we can…